She gapes at me. “No way!”
I grin, “Kidding!” and point both index fingers at our son. “After this party boy, who loves to pull an all-nighter on a regular basis, I think maybe one. Two more at the most.”
Emma motions us to follow her through a door under the stairs. “One of the wonderful things about this home is the basement has already been remodeled. It does have a laundry room, so you would be interrupted by weekly chores, but I think it would make a wonderful office space.”
“Harry Potter’s house!” I joke.
Natalie corrects me, “He was just in a cupboard under the stairs, poor guy. But look at this, Max! It’s huge!” She asks Emma as we stand on lower level, “Is it just me or did they put a lot of money into this part, but neglected the others? It feels new!”
“Yes, this was the husband’s Man Cave,” Emma nods, motioning to a white wall. “He had an invisible TV there, and the bar was over there. Dart board where you see all the holes outlining the shape of a circle on the south wall. I think their marriage was going downhill for a while because they’re now getting a divorce.”
“Ugh,” I mutter, looking around. “If he did all this it was a cry for help.”
We exchange a look as Natalie crosses to me. “I bet you’re right.”
Emma walks to the washer and dryer, keeping things positive like a good realtor needs to do. “These are new. So that’s nice. And this room can either become an office, as I mentioned, or perhaps a playroom later, or a bedroom if you don’t mind going upstairs to use the guest bathroom.” Meeting my eyes she asks, “What?”
“You’re so professional, Emm. It’s been pretty cool to witness. Never saw you in action until you started showing us these places.”
She laughs, sliding a finger into her wavy hair. “I’m pretty good at my job.”
My gaze flicks to Natalie as she touches Logan’s head with a wistful look in her eyes.
“You like it, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“You want to keep looking or go with this one?”
She locks eyes with me, slightly surprised. “Just like that?”
“It’s been a month of searching. You know me. I’m not a huge planner. Emma would show us the best places on the market first, right?”
My cousin nods. “I always do that. Don’t want you to miss out and choose something sub-par.”
“Well, I think that this house is cute as hell,” I shrug, adding, “It’s within our price point. I like that it’s a fixer-upper. That’ll give us a stronger feeling of ownership as we work on it, don’t you think?”
She blinks at me, a smile growing. “Yes, let’s do it.”
Logan makes goofy noises so I point to him. “See, he agrees with us. Well, Emm, what do you need from us?”
She explains all the logistics of buying our first home as we walk upstairs. Turning around in the empty foyer with sunlight streaming around her from the window in the door, Emma off-handedly says, “And I’m waiving my fee, of course.”
“What?” My back stiffens. “No, you’re not. We’re paying you just like anybody else would.”
Emma’s warm brown eyes crinkle with a smile. “Don’t be dumb, Max.”
“Don’t give us charity, Emma.”
The smiles vanishes, and that Cocker fire flashes from her eyes as she whips a finger through the air. “Hey, this isn’t charity!”
“Feels like it!”
“That’s because you’re a mule!” She takes a step forward, cutting off my next retort with a clipped, “No! Cut it out, Max. You’re a storyteller, here’s one for you. Once upon a time there was a man named Max. He was a realtor.”
I groan, “No!”
“And he was damn good at his job. And had NO problem saying it because he was taught to be proud of himself and his accomplishments.”
My lips twitch. “You gonna get on with it or just defend your cockiness?”
“And then one day his younger cousin, who he loved very dearly and didn’t see nearly enough of, went and made a movie that made Max cry.”
“Wait, my movie made you cry?”
She ignores me and continues, “And she knew that he had a lot more movies inside his big heart to make. And so she wanted to become a sort of…let’s say silent investor in his creative future by waiving her fee in hopes that he would hurry the fuck up and make more films!”
“Do you realize you changed sexes mid-story? Max wasn’t a she.”
“I’m talking about me!” Emma cries out, stifling a laugh. “And I messed up, yes, I did, but that doesn’t change the point.”
Jogging a thumb at my cute cousin, I ask Natalie, “You believe this girl right here?”
Emma’s shoulders slump. “Max, if the tables were turned, you would never in a million years charge me that fee, would you?”
Frowning I glance to my son’s head, stroking it with my thumb. “No.”
“I knew it.”
“Still…”
“No still! We’re family. Look, if you’d demanded this or felt entitled, we might have a problem. But you’re not like that. I want to waive my fee because you’re such a good person, Max. I’m investing in your future creations. Plus, I got to spend all this extra time with you guys! I was getting jealous at the stories Charlie was telling me.” She looks at Natalie. “You two are getting pretty close. Maybe invite me to lunch?”
My wife walks up and hugs her. “Of course!” As they separate she explains, “Charlie just always invites us over. It wasn’t meant to leave you out.”
Digging for her ringing phone, Emma admits, “She and my brother Ethan are so much better at that stuff. They still have lunches with our grandparents on a regular basis. Hello? Oh hey, handsome. I’m with Max and Natalie right now. But I think we just found them their new home!”
As Emma walks into the empty living room to talk
